190 GENERAL SUMMARY 



in Chapter VIII, and may be briefly summarized here. First, 

 the forester should do all in his power to destroy old stumps. 

 This may be achieved to some extent by cutting off the 

 fructifications of fungi, other than parasitic species such as 

 Armillaria or Fomes annosus, which he finds growing on 

 stumps, and placing them, right way up, on stumps that are 

 not yet rotted. It is found that a stump which is thoroughly 

 penetrated by another fungus is not generally attacked by 

 Armillaria, as many of the wood-rotting fungi are toxic to 

 each other. This may be done at any time of the year when 

 fructifications can be found. The next precaution is to 

 make a careful search for the fructifications of the honey 

 fungus during the autumn from the end of September 

 onwards. Spots where they are found should be marked 

 for action during slack seasons ; and, in particular, dead 

 stumps, from which fructifications are growing, should be 

 carefully noted. Action should be directed first against these 

 stumps. If they are well rotted by the fungus it is often 

 not difficult to break them up, when they may be removed 

 in pieces and burned. Where it is found that the removal 

 of a stump involves too much labour, a trench 1 ft. deep 

 should be dug round it, so that the spread of rhizomorphs 

 from it may be prevented and rhizomorphs outside the 

 trench will be cut off from their chief source of food supply. 

 Constant attention, however, is necessary to see that the 

 trench is kept open as long as the fungus is growing on the 

 stump. When a large number of stumps in close proximity 

 are found to be attacked it may save time to dig a trench 

 round the lot. When a living conifer or other tree is found 

 to be attacked it should be either removed or surrounded 

 by a trench. But it is often found that the affected live is 

 near a stump which is rotted by the fungus, and in this 

 case the trench should surround the stump as well. 



The fungus requires a certain intensity of light if it is 

 to form fructifications. Consequently, in dark woods 

 .fructifications are seldom formed, even where the fungus 

 is present, and in such woods infected regions may be over- 

 looked during the autumnal survey. On this account 



